


The nice doggie man

by Zauzat



Category: Star Trek AOS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-23
Updated: 2011-08-23
Packaged: 2017-10-23 09:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/248898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zauzat/pseuds/Zauzat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard is hoping to bring himself to Captain Pike's attention. Joanna is hoping to meet the nice doggie man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The nice doggie man

**Author's Note:**

> **Context:** So [](http://wunnerwmn.livejournal.com/profile)[**wunnerwmn**](http://wunnerwmn.livejournal.com/) posted a [picspam from Eight Below](http://bruce-greenwood.livejournal.com/34226.html) \- Bruce Greenwood as a dog-sledding scientist - at [](http://bruce-greenwood.livejournal.com/profile)[**bruce_greenwood**](http://bruce-greenwood.livejournal.com/). [](http://imachar.livejournal.com/profile)[**imachar**](http://imachar.livejournal.com/) commented that her youngster adores the movie and calls Bruce _the nice doggie man_. And I wrote doggie man comment fic. This is slightly altered from the original.

"Why so twitchy, Bones?" Jim is lounging back in his chair at the coffee shop, enjoying a well-deserved late lunch.

"It's nothing." Leonard stirs his sugar in his coffee for the thirtieth time in the last five minutes.

It is open day at the Academy and as second-years, Jim and Leonard have been roped into playing 'model cadet' for all the wannnbe recruits and their parents. Jim has been demonstrating combat moves all morning, while Leonard has been taking tours of the clinic and talking about medical careers in Starfleet. Both men are glad to have finally escaped the chaos.

Suddenly a piercing shriek has Leonard spilling his abused coffee cup across the table. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddeeeee..." A small whirlwind with a head of tousled brown curls launches herself into Leonard's lap. Leonard hugs her tight while mouthing to a startled Jim over her head, "I wasn't sure if they were going to come. So many things have been cancelled at the last minute."

Jim nods in understanding. He's seen Leonard's rising hopes before, and his bitter disappointment when it all falls through. But in the last few months Leonard and Jocelyn seem to have found an easier accord.

"And you must be Jim Kirk." A slender blonde offers him a hand. "Wow!" whispers Jim to Leonard as he returns Jocelyn's greeting. "Do _not_ hit on her," Leonard growls quietly.

Jim turns his attention to playing uncle instead and tries showing Joanna some vids of his combat moves from the morning. She turns out to have high standards and is only prepared to be impressed once she's sure that he is a good guy and only does the violent things to stop the bad guys.

Just when Jim is feeling pleased with his progress, and beginning to think that this kid thing is pretty easy, Joanna suddenly squeals: "Green! Look mommy, _green_!" and abandons Jim forthwith.

Soon she is bouncing with excitement in Gaila's lap while rubbing at her arm to see if the green comes off or not. Jocelyn and Leonard are squirming with embarrassment at Joanna's tactlessness, but Gaila thinks the whole thing is hilarious.

Leonard, who hasn't seem much of his little girl other than on a vid screen for many months, is taken aback by how outgoing and confident she has become. Her cheerful curiosity definitely comes from Jocelyn rather than him.

Just then a group of captains and Admirals walk by. Joanna looks up, jumps off Gaila's lap and heads for the group at a run, shrieking: "the doggie man!" Leonard watches in horror as she winds both arms around the waist of Captain Pike and turns back to her parents.

"Mommy, Daddy, look! It's the nice doggie man!"

Leonard, for all he grumbles about the dangers of space, is as susceptible to ambition as any capable cadet and secretly as keen as any to get a posting on the Enterprise. He tells himself that he just wants to know he's good enough to qualify, and then he'll turn it down so he can go somewhere sensible on a Starbase, but deep in his heart he knows he'll say yes if he ever gets the chance.

So, like every other ambitious cadet on campus, he's been hoping - somehow - to bring himself to the attention of the renowned Captain Pike. This isn't quite what he had in mind. He stares helplessly at Jocelyn who is now convulsed with laughter. "I'm sorry, Len. Is he someone important?"

"Kinda," replies Jim. "Only the captain we're all hoping to serve under. What have dogs got to do with it?"

"Yes, where do dogs come into it?" asks Captain Pike who now has Joanna hanging off his arm, excitedly asking him questions about the dogs. Watching Pike in bemusement are the Surgeon-General Admiral Boyce and the Dean of the Academy Admiral Barnett. Leonard wonders if there is any chance of a random transporter beam whisking him away from the embarrassment of all this.

"Joanna started asking where her daddy had gone," says Jocelyn to Pike. "That's Leonard here, my ex. So I got a few of the Starfleet recruiting vids to try and explain to her what Daddy was doing. There's one of all sorts of adventurous activities and for some bizarre reason you are driving a dog-sled across some frozen planet. But at the back of the vid is a set of out-takes from the sledding thing, shots of you messing around with the dogs. Joanna just adores that bit. She's watched it hundreds of times. It's my go-to vid when I need her to leave me in peace for a bit."

"Is that right?" Pike kneels down so he can look Joanna in the eye. "So you like dogs? Are you going to work with dogs when you grow up?"

"I'm gonna be a vet, or I'm gonna be a starship captain. Or maybe both. Can I have a dog on a starship?" Joanna looks at Pike appealingly.

"Admiral Archer managed it," says Boyce with a smile. "I don't see why Captain Joanna shouldn't do it too." Joanna beams at Boyce in approval. "I like him," she tells Pike.

The captain laughs. "He's a doctor, like your daddy."

"My daddy is the best doctor ever," Joanna informs the Surgeon General with gravity and utter conviction. "My grandma says--" her high pitched voice takes on the exact inflection of a southern matriarch who is not used to being contradicted "--that Starfleet can count themselves god-danged lucky to have him!"

"Joanna Eleanor McCoy, there will no cussing!" exclaims Jocelyn. Joanna grins unrepentantly at Pike and Boyce, who are both laughing.

"Well, you've certainly taken after your daddy in knowing how to speak your mind," says Boyce.

Leonard wonders if there is any chance that he can leopard-crawl away under the table. He didn't even realise the Surgeon-General knew that he existed, let alone had opinions about him.

Jim, ever the opportunist, intervenes. "The nice doggie man has a very big starship," he says to Joanna. "You tell him that he must take me and your daddy on his starship."

Joanna turns big brown eyes on Pike. "Can you do that? You were very nice to the doggies. Can you look after my daddy in space for me?"

Leonard cringes. "Jo-Jo, don't bother Captain Pike, he's a busy man." This is so not how he wanted to come to Pike's attention.

Pike smiles back at Joanna. "This has to be the strangest crew pitch I've ever received. But yes, honey. As long as your daddy and his friend work very hard and are very good--" Jim gets a meaningful look as he says this, "--I can take them on my ship."

Joanna flings both arms around Pike. "You're the best doggie man _ever_!" she declares.

Boyce is laughing, Jocelyn giggling, Jim bouncing and Leonard is ready to sink into the floor. Still, there is no doubt that Captain Pike now knows who he is.

\- THE END -


End file.
